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Getting The Most Out Of Your Computer
By Cheryline Lawson
Expert Author
Article Date: 2000-05-25
Are you getting the most from your computer? Your computer can streamline many of the most time-consuming, routine administrative tasks you have to do on a daily basis and save you money in the process. Here are a few examples of how you can get the most from your computer and begin to work smarter, not harder.
1. Use integrated software (suites) when you need to make intermittent use of multiple software applications. With integrated software like Microsoft Office Small Business or Lotus Smart Suite, you get a word processor, a spreadsheet, a presentation graphics, and a database program as well as many other modules. All these components have similar command structures and tool bars so you can learn to use them more quickly. You also can move simply and easily from one to another and transport information or data among the various applications.
2. Find it on the Internet! No matter what you are looking for: a resource book, a marketing fact, a government agency or law, up-to-the-second news, the latest version of a software program, where to stay in almost any city in the world, where to eat, a replacement cartridge for your printer, what to feed your cat - just about anything is available on the Internet. So before you look anywhere else, use your computer to log on to http://altavista or http://looksmart.com, just to name a few, to find what you are looking for.
3. Use macro. On a word processor, macros save time by string together sequences of keystrokes that can be activated by entering one short command, instead of typing a whole document or sentence. A macro is associated with at least two simultaneous keystrokes, for example, ALT and C, may write out the standard closing of a letter. To learn more about macros, go to your help menu in your word processing program and practice creating your own macros. You will see how much easier it will make your work.
4. Use templates for standardized documents. Programs like Microsoft Word and Word Perfect already have predefined templates but you can also make your own templates for business letters, faxes, memos, proposals and more. Microsoft Publisher and Pagemaker also have predefined templates for newsletters, cards and catalogs. When you use one of these templates, the program automatically inserts the date, sets up the "Dear…" salutation, lets you select from a library of names and addresses you have already keyboarded and signs "Sincerely" and your name, thereby saving you hundreds of keystrokes.
5. Use the outlining feature of a word processing program that lets you move entire sections of a report around just by moving the title associated with that section.
6. Use a spell checker, grammar check, dictionary, and thesaurus that come with many word processors to save time looking up words in reference books.
7. Link documents if you are operating in a Windows environment. With linking, anytime you revise the numbers in one document like a spreadsheet, they will be automatically updated in your other documents like reports, overheads, or proposals that have incorporated those numbers.
8. Use mail merge. Instead of typing the same letter over again and again to different individuals, you can use the mail merge feature that comes with your word processing program. This feature helps to minimize the time it takes to type up a letter or report that needs to be sent out to many individuals. You can create the fields that you want in your letter, for example, name, company, and address. You put these fields in your letter, type up the names of your recipients and your word processing program inserts the appropriate names in each field. This saves you a ton of time. To learn more about mail merge, go to your help feature in your word processing program.
9. Email documents instead of mailing them. If the document contains only text, you can attach it as a file to any e-mail transmission and send it to any e-mail address in the world. The power of e-mail is phenomenal. This saves you a great deal of time and money.
10. Use your email account to set up tasks, schedules and contacts. This saves you considerable time and helps you to be more organized in your daily routine. You can even set up reminders and this will pop-up at the time you set it for, to notify you that you need to take care of something right away or you have a scheduled meeting soon.
A computer is much more than just an equipment. It is made to serve you and you must take advantage of its full potential. Use the tools made available to you and keep learning new ways to save time with this great man-made tool. The computer is our friend but it won't work for you until you understand how to make it work for you.
About the Author:
This article was written by Cheryline Lawson, author and publisher of
e-books, entitled, "How to find legitimate home employment, how to become an
Independent Contractor and how to get the job you want now." You can send
an email to webmaster@i... with your questions and
comments. OR visit http://internet-home-employment.net. This article may
be used without the consent of the author but only in its entirety.
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